The present invention relates to the field of laminated plastic display devices and includes display devices for use in marketing goods and services.
A common type of presentation folder is made of rectangular paper stock having a thickness of about ten mils. A centrally positioned vertical fold separates a left half portion from a right half portion, at least one portion having a pouch formed at the bottom of the folder for containing sales literature and the like. Customized indicia such as a company logo and a description of the literature within the folder and related information is sometimes printed on the front cover of the folder by a print shop. Sending the folder to an outside print shop can result in detrimental delays and furthermore is costly, particularly if only small numbers of folders are to be printed.
We thus designed a presentation folder whereby a thin sheet of such customized indicia, which can be quickly and economically produced by a desk top publishing PC program, is heat laminated to the front face of the folder.
During the development of the new presentation folder having a transparent plastic front cover sheet to be economically laminated to a custom printed insert sheet and the front face of the folder, we wished to cut the 9 by 11.5 inch plastic cover sheet from a common type of economical heat activatable plastic roll stock. From the roll stock we produced cut sheets, which after being heat laminated to the custom printed insert sheet and the front face of the folder, produced a warped or bowed front face of the file folder. This was unacceptable from an aesthetic point of view, particularly where the sales literature is used in selling expensive items.
We also desired to provide users with folders which could have one or alternatively, two pouches for containing the sales literature, or no pouches in a third version, whereby sales literature could be saddle stiched or stapled to the vertical centralized fold separating the two halves of the folder. In a fourth version, customized printed sheets would be laminated by the user to one or both halves of the folder to produce a stand up display. In a fifth version, the customer would utilize one half of the folders to produce separate laminated sheets of sales literature which would be mounted in a spiral bound or loose leaf notebook.
However, should a user wish to have a number of different types of folders on hand to make the different versions of the display, this could produce inventory control problems, particularly if a user doesn't require large quantities of folders. That is, if only a small quantity of materials to make the various versions are stocked at one time, the small user could easily run out of those folders for making particular desired versions of the display, just when the salesman needs them.
During prior art roll lamination, a paper carrier encloses the plastic sheets as they pass through the hot rolls of the laminator. These carriers spread the heat and pressure over a wider area of the sheets being laminated as they pass through the bite of the roller pair. The result is a more uniform lamination. However, some users use the same paper carrier over and over so that they become compressed and lose their ability to efficiently spread the pressure of the roller pair. They can also become contaminated with plastic oozing out of the edges of the plastic envelopes if used repeatedly. Also the carriers are subjected to the same inventory control problems mentioned in the previous paragraph. If the users run out of the carriers, they often use the same remaining carriers over and over, reducing the quality of the laminated product.
It would thus be desirable to prevent the use of old carriers and in effect force the user to use a fresh carrier for each lamination. Additionally, a need exists for a secured file folder for accumulating critical data, such as company personnel or drug use data, which cannot be compromised by dishonest individuals.